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Back in the day, a wet phone didn't mean much — you'd just send an electronic mail, use the landline telephone, or pay someone a visit instead. Today, however, the wet phone situation usually results in extreme stress, severe FOMO, missed connections, critical withdrawal from Instagram, and getting horribly lost without Google Maps. While the go-to "pop it in rice" can work, here are five less grainy ways to save your social life.

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Stop! Before you perform surgery, be sure to put it under.
First of all, it's important to rescue the phone out of the water, turn it off, and remove the battery (if it has a removable battery). Once you reach that point, you can scream and cry and despair, but do not turn your phone on to see if it's working. You are the phone-surgeon and you must keep your phone in a medically induced coma. Once it's safely off, with the removed battery on the table, proceed. Dropped it into something that isn't freshwater? You're probably in trouble, but try submerging your phone in freshwater to get the sugar or salt out before moving forward.

Silica Dry Packs - $12 for 20... or free (with purchase)!
Since time is of the essence, how about something you already have in the house? Those annoying poisonous-looking packets that come with most stuff can work wonders. Due to its ability to attract and hold water, silica gel can do an incredible job keeping things dry. If you have some of these left over, toss them in an airtight container along with your drowned iPhone and hope for the best.

BHEESTIE - $18BHEESTIE claims to dry a phone in 12 to 24 hours, seven times faster than rice, using small balls. The "Molecular Beads" have tiny holes to trap the evaporating water and start out blue, but turn green when they're saturated and need to be replaced.

Reviveaphone - $25
Reviveaphone takes a slightly different approach, addressing a problem that often befalls wet phones: short circuiting caused by mineral deposits left on the circuit board. With Reviveaphone, the phone goes into a pouch with the included solution. Seven minutes later, the phone goes into a supplied tray for 24 hours to dry.

DryBox Rescue - $20 to $40
DryBox Rescue is a phone-drying service that claims to extract all the moisture in just 30 minutes. Just take your phone to one of the many locations around the country and get your phone dried. If the accident scene isn't far from a location and you need your phone in a hurry, this may be your best bet. That or simply not dropping your phone in water...

Ethan Wolff-Mann is the Gear editor for Supercompressor. He wonders if phone-saving rice can still be eaten. Follow him on Twitter @ewolffmann.